For Love And War
by The Rise Of The Cursed Child
Summary: *Sequel to 'Gold is their Crowns and Gold is their Shrouds'* Conflicted between her passion for sword fighting and her dream of falling in love, Loren Tyrell finds herself in the North, facing the stigma of carrying Lannister blood in a place where her mother's family are hated. Her adventure to discover the truth of her past proves to be the key to finding her future


A.N.: I have decided to begin writing the sequel to 'Gold is their Crowns and Gold is their Shrouds' again as what I have started in the original sequel wasn't heading in the direction I intended it to go. This story will go in a completely different direction and I know that my writing ability has improved considerably. If you can, please review as I want to know if people genuinely want me to begin this. A.N.

The tales always told of a beautiful, fair Princess kidnapped by a cruel monster only to eventually saved by a handsome knight. Whisked off her feet and freed, she would fall hopelessly in love with her saviour, get married and live happily ever after. To a young lady there was nothing more attractive than finding the Florian to her Jonquil, a dashing hero who would see no girl except for her. By 15 summers old, most girls would have realised that in reality there were no Florian's, and they would be lucky to be chosen a husband who they wouldn't detest. However, ever one to defy convention, the eldest Tyrell daughter found herself as hopelessly, impulsively romantic as she had been at half her age.

"Florian or Jonquil?" Loras Tyrell asked out of nowhere one day, watching his daughter's face knot with confusion.

"What for, papa?"

"Florian or Jonquil? The bear or the maiden fair? Which would you rather be?" Despite answering her question, the young lady appeared just as confused as before, and Loras could practically see her mind devoted the entirety of its efforts on formulating an answer.

"Well… Jonquil I suppose, and the maiden fair."

Prompting her further, he asked: "Why?"

Loren was not one to usually question her father's motives, but still, the purpose of his questioning seemed impossible to detect. "Why what?"

"Why do you choose the helpless maidens instead of the warriors? You are talented enough with a sword."

"But women do not become knights, and certainly not bears! Would you be happy if I grew a tail and started growling at you?" She joked, giving little thought to the truth of the question.

A sigh emerged frustrated. "Don't avoid the question. I'm sure if I had asked your mother the same question at your age then she would have certainly picked Florian."

"But she didn't become a knight! She became Lady of Highgarden and did her duty! At what point did she choose a sword over sewing?" Though her memories of her mother were not as strong as they had once been, she couldn't have imagined the dignified Lady Joanna running around with a sword.

"You were probably too young to remember but your mother was the kind of women who would fight to the death to protect what was hers. She detested sewing, Loren, far more than you do. Had she been born a man then she would have most certainly grown to become one of the greatest swordsmen alive now."

Loras pitied the young woman and the surprised look that appeared on her face. It had been 9 years since his wife's passing and she was the only one of her siblings to have even a single memory of their mother. Though he could have never loved her like the couples in Loren' songs, he had grown to respect her and it still pained him that childbirth had taken her too soon.

"Mother may have been more cynical than I, but is it so wrong to want to love someone with all my heart and to know that they would be there to rescue me no matter what peril I found myself in?" A younger Loren had once sat on her balcony continuously for a week without resting in hope that her Prince would see her and fall so hopelessly in love with the sight of her that he would march straight into the castle and beg for her hand in marriage.

"What's wrong with saving yourself, Loren? I'm sure you could rescue a trapped Prince easily."

"Don't jest, father. The songs never tell of helpless men and warrior women! No one would ever take me seriously, and besides… what man would want to marry me?" The thought of spending the rest of her life loveless brought tear to her eyes and a racing to heart.

Drawing her into a hug, Loras brushed her hair comfortingly. "Trust me, child. Not all love is like your songs, remember that you don't choose who you love. Someday you will find someone who sees just how special you are and he won't judge you for wanting to pick up a sword, just as I didn't judge you."

"Did you love mama that way?"

"Loren…" He began, quite unsure as how to continue without upsetting her.

"I know the marriage wasn't for love, but surely you grew to love her eventually." She earnestly begged for the answer to be yes.

"I loved your mother for being the mother of you, Willas and Daria." He attempted to compromise.

"But not like Jonquil and Florian?" Defeated, her view of her parents deflated considerably. There had been something so compelling about the idea of a husband and wife so desperately in love that her death in the childbed broke him so much that he never married again.

"I did have a Jonquil, once long ago. I like to think that for a time I saved them, but their life came to an end too quickly. In the end: I lost my Jonquil and by the time I had married your mother, she had also lost her own Florian."

"Then what was the point in telling me this? That's so tragic!" As much as he loved Loren, she had a tendency to be naïve and far too emotionally involved. The greatest happiness could turn to the deepest despair as quickly as the weather changed.

"I just want you to know that perhaps you shouldn't place all your hope on discovering your own Prince. _You don't need saving,_ " he stressed. "I won't force you into marrying a stranger, despite everyone's insistence, which means that you have all the time in the world to discover yourself before you discover your Florian."

Though her tears no longer threatened to run down her face, her hopes had not yet been raised. "How? I'm stuck here in the castle, the other children won't play with me out of fear of offending their Lord's daughter, Willas is too stuck in his books to spend any time with me and Daria can't exactly run around with me! You're the only one who I find even remotely enjoyable to spend time with but you're the Lord so you're always busy and-"

"Do not fret so." He interrupted, sensing that despite her hysterics she was no longer too distraught to be reasoned with. "I have been corresponding with the North, and have found an opportunity for you."

Loren's attention was captured immediately. "Opportunity? Please not a marriage offer from a stranger!"

"No, no, no, nothing like that. It would appear that Queen Arya is not completely opposed to the idea of fostering you in Winterfell."

"What?" She couldn't help but gasp. "But why would I be fostered?"

"Originally I was intending you to become her squire but she seemed to take offense with the idea of having a child being her servant. She will train you how to fight properly, not just what little I have the time to train you in."

"How does the Queen in the North have time to train me? Surely she has more important duties."

"Don't worry, I have arranged everything already."

The difference between her mood now and previously was a clear as night and day. Though the thought of travelling North and leaving her family terrified her, she had the chance to train with the best. Queen Arya was known throughout Westeros for not only her fierceness but also her beauty, and despite offers of marriage from every eligible lord she had married a simple blacksmith. Such a union could only have emerged from true love and the knowledge that a woman knight could find true love despite breaking convention offered a great deal of comfort to her.


End file.
